An infamous drug dealer arrested while barefoot as he was dramatically hauled from a cocaine-laden van on a motorway must now pay back £6m of his criminal fortune.
Jamie Simpson was the man behind the country's largest ever land-based cocaine seizure - worth £20m - when he was caught on the M6 in 2018.
In a very public scene, the 32-year-old was pulled from a specially-adapted van carrying 186kg of the Class A drug, along with his couriers.
It all took place on the fast lane of the M6 as a police helicopter monitored and filmed the high-profile arrests from the sky.
Simpson, part of a serious organised criminal gang in Warrington, was travelling to his hometown after picking up the cocaine haul in Rochester, Kent.
The police blockade meant other drivers had to divert around it, as the high-level cocaine peddler was manoeuvred into custody, without any footwear on.
Simpson was jailed for 11 years and six months for leadfing the operation, as he took the unusual step of travelling with his haul - potentially due to being under pressure to deliver from criminals even higher up the chain of command.
Today, detectives revealed he has been ordered to pay back £6m of those ill-gotten gains.
It means that, even when he is released from prison, police are legally entitled to seize any property of value from him, at any stage.
That will continue until the full bill is paid, officers have said, who added that his "lavish lifestyle" was over.
Simpson was caught almost by accident, by police, who were actually at the time investigating a different high-level drugs crook - Jamie Olroyd.
That secret probe had lasted 14 months, but it later emerged how the "two Jamies" knew each other and conspired together at times.
A Proceeds of Crime hearing took place at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday where it was ruled Simpson, who ferried his product across the country, needed to stump up £6,143,854.
Detective Chief Inspector Giles Pierce, from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “It is unheard of for a criminal to have such a large benefit figure but this is due to the fact that Simpson was involved in one of the largest in-land cocaine seizure in this country.
“More than £6 million of that cocaine belonged to Simpson and the remaining amount would have been purchased by other organised criminals.
“Simpson will always be in debt and owe the police the money until he has re-paid the full amount.
“In the future, once he is released from prison, the Proceeds of Crime Act gives us the power to take from him anything he buys that is of value.
“This means he will never live the lavish lifestyle he did when he was operating his criminal enterprise.”
David Keane, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, said: “Criminal activity ruins lives and communities so I am committed to ensuring money seized from offending is reinvested back into our communities to discourage people from making the same mistakes."
Simpson and his three accomplices were sentenced to a total of 35 years.
